Tank Update

The sick Molly is still sick. He has started eating a bit, but generally is not doing well. There are a few scales that are missing and the speckled Molly is returning the favour of chasing him around the tank. I am surprised he has lasted this long.

The Kuhli loaches are settling in and have made the gap under the bogwood their home. They can be found hiding there most of the time and only come out when the lights are off or there is a bit of food out. But they are slowly acclimatising to the tank and every now and then we see one swimming along the bottom.

I now know why they call the shrimp "Ghost Shrimp". It is not because they are see-through, but it is because you do not get to see them! Since they have entered the tank, I have only seen them a few times. They appear to like the Java fern and now and then I see both of them hanging on the leaves. Occasionally a fish will chase them around until they get away.

Last but not least, the snails have been reproducing. The total number of snails have increased and we have even seen some snail egg sacks on the Java fern's roots. They appear to live mostly on the Vallis and Java fern. I might have to invest in a fish that likes snails for dinner to start keeping the snail population under control.

I also noticed that the Vallis was starting to block out the light to the plants below, so I decided to do a bit of pruning. I thinned out the longest leaves, creating space for the new leaves. I decided to cut the leaves just as they reached the surface. Some of the off-cuts were nearly a metre long, so the total length of the leaf must have been over a metre.

Molly Fact Sheet

Here is a fact sheet of the Molly

Scientific Name	Poecilia sphenops
Family	Poeciliidae
Common Names	Molly, Black Molly
Origin	Central and South America: Mexico to Colombia
Adult Size	6 - 10cm
Social	Peaceful, suitable for community tanks
Lifespan	2 - 3 years
Diet	Omnivore, eats most foods
Breeding	Live bearers
pH	7.5 - 8.2
Hardness	11.0 - 30.0 dH
Temperature	18 - 28 C

Sick Molly

This morning I noticed that my black molly was not eating when I was feeding the fish and on further inspection I noticed that his scales are sticking out. This is an indication of a condition called Dropsy. Not sure what caused it. The Internet lists possible causes as poor water conditions, poor diet, bacterial and some viral infections. I did a water test and the results were fine, but to be on the safe side I did a water change. Unfortunately Dropsy is usually fatal as it an indication of swollen internal organs. It is not contagious, but the cause of the infection could be. So it looks like I will be removing a dead fish from the tank in the next day or two. Because both L and I like the black molly, it will be replaced as soon as the tank has settled down with the other new occupants.

Reluctant Guests

Today we bought the most difficult fish and crustaceans that you can catch, or so it appeared when the pet shop guys were trying to catch them. It took ten minutes to catch four Kuhli loach (Pangio Kuhlii) and just as long to catch the two Ghost Shrimp (Palaemonetes kadiakensis). Both groups are scavengers. We had fun getting them out of the bags when we got home. The shrimp slipped passed the net as we were pouring the water over the bucket, but likely L was better at catching them than the pet shop boys were. Loaches were just as fun, one decided it did not want to leave the bag and got itself trapped in the corner. Luckily I was able to coax it out into the tank with a few shakes of the bags.

Once both the shrimp and the loaches were in the water they disappeared into a variety of hiding places. Last night they had settled in a bit and it appears the loaches like to live under the bogwood away from the light. The shrimps on the other hand have hidden themselves somewhere in the tank, but now and then we see them on the Juwel Rock background. I am hoping that once everyone settles down, we will see more of both the loaches and shrimp.

Kuhli loach

Ghost Shrimp

Fish Stock

Below is a list of fish I currently have in the tank.

Fish	Quantity
Cardinal Tetras	12
Cories	2
Danios	3
Guppies	2
Mollies	4
Siamese Fighter	1
Total	24

Tank Update

The new plants I planted last week are settling in ok and the fish are enjoying the change of scenery. The Cryptocoryne wendtii is already sending up new leaves from the gravel. Four of the five plants were planted on the left hand side of the tank and the fifth on the right.

The new tank layout

New plants on the left

The pictures below were taken by my best man who was visiting this weekend. He is used to taking photos of objects that only move when they tick and thought he would give live moving objects ago. You can check out his ticking objects here. Thanks for the great photos!

Two mollies

Siamese Fighter and Molly

Posing Siamese Fighter

Baby No More

The last few days I have noticed that the Siamese fighter has not been hanging around the bogwood, hunting for the baby Molly. I have also not seen the baby hanging under the bogwood and after a few checks with the torch, I have come to the conclusion that the Siamese fighter has had his take away meal. Pity as I was hoping the Molly would mature to an adult.

New Plants

I decided to get some new plants to replace the Cabomba as the fish were slowly pulling them apart. As I was having trouble finding the plants I wanted at the pet shops, I decided to use a Internet site recommended in a tropical fish magazine I have been reading. So I ordered 5 plants from them last Saturday and they arrived on Wednesday. They came in bags that were very moist inside. These bags were packaged in a box. I was only able to get around to planting them on Thursday night, so I kept them in a bucket of water.

There are the plants I bought:

Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Mi Oya' - An easy plant to grow and one of the most robust Crypts. Very variable under different light and other environmental conditions.

Bacopa australis - Easy to grow in an aquarium. Under certain conditions it creeps across the bottom to form an elegantly decorative light green cushion.

Staurogyne sp. - This is a new plant to the aquatic hobby. It is a hardy plant for the foreground of the aquarium.